Bombay HC quashes ED arrest where arrest based on evidence available 5 years prior, violating procedural fairness.
Bombay HC Quashes ED Arrest Based on Stale Evidence
The Bombay High Court quashed the arrest of a corporate executive by the Enforcement Directorate, holding that the arrest was illegal as it relied solely on evidence available years earlier, with no fresh material indicating continuing involvement in the money laundering case. The arrest thus violated principles of natural justice and Section 19 PMLA.
Justice [Name] noted that arrest must be based on reasonable belief formed at the time of action, not stale intelligence.
"An arrest based on evidence from 2021, without contemporaneous justification in 2026, is a mechanical exercise,"the court held, citing Siddharth v. State (NCT of Delhi), (2021) 9 SCC 405. The court emphasized that custodial power must not be used coercively to extract cooperation.
The ruling serves as a check on investigative overreach, mandating that ED justify each arrest independently. Legal practitioners should challenge arrests lacking fresh nexus, especially in legacy cases where no new predicate offence or asset seizure is involved.
Citations
- PMLA Section 19
- Siddharth v. State (NCT of Delhi), (2021) 9 SCC 405